Halo: Reach
"From the beginning, you know the end." : ''- Halo Reach tagline 'Halo Reach 'or simply 'Reach, is a first person shooter science fiction video game developed by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. However, due to the Xbox One's lack of backwards compatibility, it cannot be played on its successor console. It is a spinoff from the main trilogy, taking place just before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved (a chronological time difference of a month). It serves as a de-facto prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved. Halo Reach ''was released on September 14, 2010, and was announced alongside ''Halo 3 ODST a year before. Halo Reach quickly retook the franchise's massive success, eclipsing Halo 3's record of $170 million with its own release of $200 million within the first week, managing to sell over 8 million copies. It has been considered one of the most revolutionary Halo ''games to date, containing almost all the content found in previous games. On November 27, 2013, ''Halo Reach, alongside Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, was rereleased in the Halo Origins Bundle. Story Plot ''Halo Reach's'' ' campaign is similiar to ''Halo 3 ODST' '''in that it is based only on one world, and follows the story of a squad of soldiers' ('Halo Reach's case, it is not a squad of ODSTs, but a squad of Spartan-IIIs called Noble Team. Unlike ODST, however, the other squad members are not playable. Noble Six serves as the game's primary protagonist). Halo Reach ''is possibly the most militaristic out of the games, and also seems to be the only ''Halo ''game where the protagonists are actually defeated (in every other game, the protagonist is victorious, whether through battle or escaping one). This is likely because, from the start of the franchise, the fanbase already knew the fate of the colony of Reach, and that its destruction was inevitable. ''Halo Reach ''is much more melancholic than the previous games, and details the Fall of Reach during the Human-Covenant War, which indirectly led to the discovery of the Halo rings, and to the eventual downfall of the Covenant. The game starts by showing Reach after its glassing, where we also observe the cracked helmet of Noble Six sitting in the dust. Skip back to events before the Fall of Reach, and we see Noble Six in a Warthog heading towards an outpost on Reach. When he arrives, he is introduced to his new team (as he is replacing a deceased squad member) before being dropped into a briefing held by Colonel Urban Holland. The colonel explains that a relay outpost at Visegrad has dropped out of contact, and that they believe the local Insurrection to be responsible. Carter-A259, the commanding officer of Noble Team, accepts the mission and welcomes Six to the squad, before they all depart on Falcons to Visegrad. Arriving at Visegrad, a little town in the Highland Mountains of the Eposz continent, Noble Team immediately find themselves unable to contact their headquarters. Deploying, they investigate the area to find signs of battle, but no bodies. Eventually, they come across a few villagers, one of which states he saw something kill his son. They press on to find two dead UNSC army troopers, hung up interrogation style. After minutes of trying to locate any evidence of Insurrectionist activity, they come across hostile contacts; and its the Covenant. Shocked by the sudden change of events, Noble Team presses onwards towards the outpost, breaking through Covenant forces occupying the area. They eventually manage to secure the outpost, reopening Reach's interstellar communications and allowing Carter to warn Holland of the Covenant presence on Reach. With this in mind, Holland puts the WINTER CONTINGENCY emergency plan into action. Later, Noble Team is redeployed to Sword Base, an ONI facility in the Babd Catha Ice Shelf within Eposz, where the facility is under siege from a Covenant SDV-Class Heavy Corvette. Deploying in the courtyard, Kat-B320 and Noble Six secure the area. With the courtyard secured, Kat and Six quickly left for Farragut Station, reactivating a COM array. They then went to Airview Base, reactivating an AA gun to help clear the skies of Covenant aircraft. Once done, they return to Sword Base and regroup with the rest of Noble Team, moving inside the facility and helping UNSC forces clear the facility of Covenant ground forces. They proceed to the top of the base, where Six helps Emile-A239 take out any Covenant air in the area. Once done, the two of them watch as the corvette tries to escape, only to be hit by an orbital MAC round, destroying it instantly. Later, after the battle, Noble Team is called in by Dr. Halsey, who reprimands Carter for not pursuing the Elites at the Visegrad Relay. She explains that they were likely part of an artifact retrieval team, and likely had stolen valuable information. Kat reveals that she confiscated some of the information, before giving it to Halsey. After, Noble Team leaves, with Halsey inspecting her new data intently. Later, at nighttime, Noble Six and Jun-A266 are deployed to the Szurdok Ridge in the Viery Territory to scout out Covenant positions and to find out the extent of the Covenant incursion. Using stealth tactics in a strictly recon role, Jun and Six are able to sneak past or neutralize most of the Covenant entrenchments, even planting a bomb on a pylon, which is stated to be the source of a dark zone. They manage to hold off significant Covenant opposition while doing this, but succeed, retreating to the end of the ridge. From there, they stumble upon a massive Covenant armada being set up, with large fortifications and armies being deployed from an unknown source. With their mission complete, Jun and Six quietly extract, ready for the morning's assault. The next morning, the UNSC launches a massive ground and air assault upon the Covenant strike force, utilizing huge amounts of Scorpions, Warthogs and Falcons. Cutting through the Viery Territory, the UNSC forces hope to hit the Covenant hard and fast, clearing them out and ridding them of their landing zone. The Covenant meet them in force, with a massive force of Ghosts, Banshees, Wraiths, Revenants and Scarabs. Forced to break off, Kat and Six are cut off from the rest of the army, and forced to proceed on foot, engaging numerous Covenant lances on the ground. Through the help of sections of the UNSC assault force, Kat and Six manage to locate and destroy numerous AA batteries, allowing two UNSC frigates and a squadron of Longswords to break through and smash a large section of the Covenant defenses, including three Scarabs. After destroying one final AA gun, Jorge-052 meets up with Six in a Falcon and they cut across the battlefield to take out a Covenant Spire, hoping to find the source of the Covenant incursion. Their Falcon is disabled by the Spire's shield, but, by proceeding on foot, they both manage to disable the Spire's shield and escape on another Falcon, retreating to a safe distance as one of the two frigates, [[UNSC Grafton|UNSC ''Grafton]], uses its MAC gun to destroy the Spire. It is then revealed that the Spire was actually powering the active camouflage of the gargantuan Covenant CSO-Class Supercarrier, Long Night of Solace. Shortly after being revealed, the supercarrier fires its energy projector, destroying the Grafton ''instantly, before later escaping into orbit of the planet. Noble Team regroups in an unknown location, trying to think of a way to deal with the supercarrier. Kat forms her own plan, hoping to rig a slipspace drive into an explosive device, and delivering it to the supercarrier. The resulting explosion would transport half the colossal vessel to oblivion. Carter asks how she plans to even get it there, when she reveals that she is aware of the UNSC's classified prototype Sabres, and that using them would be extremely effective in taking down the supercarrier. Carter contacts Holland about the plan, but is extremely doubtful that he'll permit it. A few hours later, Noble Team arrives at Farkas Lake in Eposz, where the Sabre Program Launch/Research Range is located. The supercarrier is already assaulting the base, with air strikes being launched and troops deployed via dropship and orbit. Noble Team cuts through the edge of the lake, breaking through and reaching the facility. Inside, they clear out any hostiles that got inside with the help of army troopers, before moving into the main facility. The rest of Noble stays behind while Jorge and Six enter one of the Sabres, launching with the rest into orbit. They quickly move into position around the refit and repair station ''Anchor 9, where the frigate [[UNSC Savannah|UNSC Savannah]] is docked, and having its slipspace drive removed for the mission. However, the station soon comes under attack from Covenant air forces, and Six, with the other Sabres, defends the station until its defenses come online. Later, now capable of defending itself, ''Anchor 9'' helps clear up the remainder of the Covenant squadrons, and the Sabre docks with the station to allow Jorge to get to the Pelican holding the slipspace drive. Six quickly departs as the Pelican docks with the Savannah, of which offers assistance in the mission. All ready, the group makes best speed towards their target. They quickly arrive on the other side of the planet, where the SDV-Class Heavy Corvette, Ardent Prayer, is waiting. They quickly ambush the corvette, with the Sabres disabling its engines and managing to fight off returning patrols. With the corvette unable to escape, the Sabres land on its hull, and Six leads a squad of army troopers into the ship, clearing out any Covenant in the ship's hangar. Once done, the Pelican deploys with the slipspace drive, and Jorge and Six proceed to the bridge. On the way however, the corvette's defenses overwhelm and destroy the Savannah, forcing them to hurry. They kill the command crew and set the ship on a refueling course for the Long Night of Solace, giving them their delivery. Returning to the hangar, they find the Pelican under attack from the Covenant. They manage to repel the counterattack, but the bomb is damaged during the battle, and can only be detonated manually. Jorge declares his intent to detonate it, grabbing Six and throwing him out of the ship before he can object. Jorge then sacrifices his life and detonates the bomb as the Ardent Prayer ''as it docks with the supercarrier, vaporizing the corvette instantly and scything the ''Long Night of Solace ''in half. Six is only able to watch on as he is caught in Reach's atmosphere and continues to fall. However, only moments later, a massive Covenant fleet arrives, thousands of ships, in orbit of Reach, and the Fall of Reach finally begins. Six awakens after his fall to the sight of the supercarrier's wreckage, and quickly limps away in a random direction. This takes him to the city of New Alexandria, where four SDV-Class Heavy Corvettes are currently bombarding it. Six moves into the city, quickly linking up with forces from the UNSC Army and helping evacuate civilians from Traxus Tower. However, the evacuation is unable to take place, as one of the corvettes has moved above the tower, shutting off all attempts to evacuate. However, with the help of some of ODSTs from the Bullfrog unit, they manage to capture an executive landing pad, allowing civilians to evacuate via Pelican. Not long after, Six gets in a Falcon, and is transported across the city, where he watches numerous examples of the Covenant overrunning the city, and even watches a civilian evacuation ship get shot down by a corvette, crashing into the ocean and sinking. Landing on a beachhead, Six helps Sergeant Duvall reinitiate UNSC missile batteries. They successfully clear the area long enough to activate the missile batteries, which fire and cripple the corvette's weaponry, allowing the remaining evacuation transports to slip past and escape the city. Not long after, Kat contacts Six, who informs her that Jorge is dead, and later pops a flare so they can find him and extract him. Later, at nighttime, the Covenant have practically devastated New Alexandria, and now CCS-Class Battlecruisers have moved into orbit over the city to begin glassing it. Noble Six reunites with Carter, who sends him on a mission to aid UNSC forces in escaping the city ruins and in taking out Covenant jammers located throughout the area. Using a Falcon, Six coordinates with Kat, and manages to locate and destroy the jammers successfully. However, when Kat receives orders from Colonel Holland that all forces are to be evacuated through the Office of Naval Intelligence Headquarters building, Six is ordered back to assist. This becomes even more urgent when Covenant forces begin an aerial siege of the tower, which is soon broken by the timely arrival of Six, and all surviving forces are able to evacuate, and Six is able to land and regroup with Noble Team. Noble Team convenes, only to receive new orders from Holland that they are to be redeployed back to Sword Base in a mission to destroy it. However, the transmission draws the attention of the Covenant, and a CCS-Class Battlecruiser fires its energy projector right next to the tower, beginning to glass it. The radiation spike cripples all their energy shields instantly, and Noble Team flees the room as they try to reach a radiation bunker. Just as they reach it however, an Elite Field Marshal on a overhead Phantom manages to hit Kat in the back of the head with its Needle Rifle, killing Kat instantly. She dies in Six's arms as the rest of Noble Team opens fire, but the Phantom escapes. They drag her body inside as the glassing beam continues to destroy the building. Later, they emerge from the wreckage, where a transport is moving to pick them up. Carter then emerges, cradling Kat's body in his arms. Later, Noble Team, supported by a modicum of UNSC forces, redeploys to Sword Base in a torch-and-burn op to destroy the facility and prevent the Covenant from gaining any information they can use to their advantage. They manage to fight their way into Sword Base, where they proceed inside and clear it of Covenant hostiles. They push through to the pre-assigned coordinates, only to find nothing. Confused, the team is about to leave when Auntie Dot informs them that new, revised coordinates are leading underground. Finding a excavation tunnel, Noble Team travels deep into a deep underground cavern, where they are contacted by Halsey and revealed the true nature of their mission; to assist her in escape and to allow her to retrieve her findings on the Forerunner ruins. Arriving, Noble Team uses Wolf Spider Turrets to defend the lab, and manages to hold off numerous waves of Covenant troops. Once allowed inside, Noble Team meets Halsey once more, and is introduced to Cortana, an AI with her personal personality implant. Halsey declares she has made a discovery that could change the course of the war. Taking Cortana, she places her in a data storage unit, before giving her to Noble Six to transport to the [[UNSC Pillar of Autumn|UNSC ''Pillar of Autumn]]. She then leaves on a Pelican for CASTLE Base, with Jun as her escort. Carter, Six and Emile then deploy on a separate Pelican, of which Carter pilots personally, and head for the Aszod Shipbreaking Yards, where the Autumn is docked. Noble Team arrive at Aszod, but their Pelican is badly damaged from Covenant pursuers, and Carter badly wounded. Emile and Six decidedly leap from the Pelican while Carter keeps the enemy air forces distracted, allowing Emile and Six to continue on foot towards the shipbreaking yards. From there, they acquire a vehicle and manage to break through the Covenant forces in the area, and even evade a few passing Scarabs. However, they eventually come across a Scarab that they cannot avoid. Before it can kill them however, Carter appears, slamming his Pelican into the Scarab and killing himself, but sending the Scarab careening off the cliff into the area below. Emile and Six continue to the shipbreaking yards, and help UNSC Army forces fight off Covenant troops. Punching through, they eventually reach the landing pad, where Emile takes control of an Onager and clears the skies, while Six deals with any enemy forces that manage to get through on the ground. Eventually, Captain Keyes arrives on a Pelican and Six gives him Cortana. But before Six can get on the Pelican with him, a Phantom appears, shooting down the escort and quickly deploying a squad of Elites at the mass driver. Emile manages to kill one, but is then killed by a second, but not before killing the second as well. With a CCS-Class Battlecruiser looming above, Six decides to stay behind and use the Onager to buy them sometime to escape. Fighting back through the facility, Six utilizes the Onager to cripple the battlecruiser's energy projector, allowing the Pillar of Autumn to escape into orbit. Six simply watches as the ship moves into the atmosphere. The game ends the same way Halo: Combat Evolved begins; with the Pillar of Autumn entering orbit over Alpha Halo, and Keyes asking Cortana whether or not Reach was lost. The credits then roll as the Autumn continues to fly towards the ring. After the credits, the game cuts back to Six on Reach, still in Aszod, watching Phantoms fly by. Eventually, Six is forced to engage Covenant forces while Reach is glassed around him, and he fights to the death. Eventually, Six is overwhelmed by seven Elites, and is killed. The scene cuts to Six's helmet, cracked, and lying in the dust, just like at the start of the game. It then cuts to 37 years later in 2589, where Reach has been restored to a habitable state, and a colony ship can be seen in the background, but Six's helmet remains present. Campaign On average, a player will take 8 hours and 35 minutes, and 11 hours and 25 minutes leisurely to complete the Halo Reach ''campaign mode. In the game, there are a total of ten levels, with one bonus level, including one that features 'multiple-choice' side missions, which are never seen again in the series. These levels progress the game and its story, telling the tale of Noble Team, and its eventual downfall, as well as the destruction of Reach. It is the second FPS ''Halo ''game where the protagonist is not John-117. Instead, the player takes control of Noble Six, a nameless Spartan-III who serves as the replacement for Noble Team's previous Noble Six. Unlike the other games in the series, the player's armor permutations in multiplayer carry over to the campaign, meaning that the player's multiplayer character armor permutations will be Six's armor permutations (Eg. If your character is wearing a Mark VI helmet, then Noble Six will be wearing a Mark VI helmet in the campaign. This goes for cutscenes as well). However, this does not work with Elite armor permutations for obvious reasons. This is possibly also the first ''Halo ''FPS game where the playable character becomes deceased at the end. Like previous games, cutscenes are rendered using the in-game graphics engine. The ten levels of the game: *Noble Actual : ''"Welcome to Reach." *Winter Contingency : "There's a disturbance on the frontier." *ONI: Sword Base : "Covenant are attacking a vital ONI base. Drive the bastards off." *Nightfall : "Move in behind enemy lines and evaluate the opposition." *Tip of the Spear : "Two massive armies clash! Time to go to war against the Covenant." *Long Night of Solace : "Move up the beach and secure the launch facility. Take the battle to the Covenant Super Carrier." *Exodus : "All is not lost. Evacuate civilians from an occupied city." *New Alexandria : "Provide air support in a forest of crumbling skyscrapers." *The Package : "Your orders are to destroy Sword Base... Or are they?" *The Pillar of Autumn : "Deliver Halsey's data package to the Pillar of Autumn." *Lone Wolf (After Credits) : "Spartans never die. They're just missing in action…" Characters Major Characters *Carter-A259, "Noble One" *Catherine-B320, "Noble Two" *Jun-A266, "Noble Three" *Emile-A239, "Noble Four" *Jorge-052, "Noble Five" *SPARTAN-B312, "Noble Six" *Auntie Dot *Colonel Urban Holland, "Noble Actual" *Catherine Elizabeth Halsey Minor Characters *Beta-Red Actual (Radio Conversations only) *Avery Johnson (Firefight voice only) *Buckman *Cortana *Duvall *Echo Team (Mentioned only) *Edward Buck *Gauntlet Team (Mentioned only) *Jacob Keyes *Jake Chapman *John-117 (Easter Egg/Firefight voice only) *Marcus Stacker *Team Beta (Mentioned only) *Travis *Red Team (Mentioned only) Features Summary Halo Reach ''is very different from its predecessors, yet very similiar. The graphics are improved greatly from ''Halo 3, and a new range of weapons, vehicles and abilities are present within the game. Custom Games and Forge, innovations brought about by Halo 3, return and are improved upon massively. Firefight from Halo 3 ODST makes a return, along with even more improvements to give it a more unique feel. The game is far more militaristic in its campaign delivery, and is far more melancholic. Halo Reach ''is the tale of the Fall of Reach, something of which must of the fanbase already knew about, but never got to see in the video game franchise before. *'Storyline Execution: Halo Reach ''is possibly the most militaristic in the franchise, with many of the characters using military callsigns and names that the ordinary person wouldn't understand. The game also takes into account the immense feeling of helplessness, and gives representation to the sheer might of the Covenant Empire, and why the Fall of Reach was the largest UNSC defeat in Halo canon. It also further emphasizes this with the gradual deaths of Noble Team's members, eventually culminating in the main character dying at the end as well in a heroic final stand. *'Vehicular Incorporation': Many vehicles from previous games return in ''Halo Reach, along with the addition of brand new vehicles. The character will still enter a third-person view when entering vehicles, and most of them, for the most part, operate similiarly to previous games, while others are much easier to control than previous games. Some vehicles may also be stronger or weaker, depending on Bungie's new balancing of the gameplay. *'Weapon System': Just like vehicles, many of the weapons from previous games return in Halo Reach, along with the addition of brand new weapons. The ability to dual-wield, however, is no longer present within the game, but the player will still be able to mount a turret and tear it off its mounting, allowing them to carry it around. When doing this, the character will still be forced into a third-person view. Some weapons may also be stronger or weaker, depending on Bungie's new balancing of the gameplay. *'Artificial Intelligence': Halo Reach ''takes a new step and improves the game's AI vastly. Elites are now able to dual-wield weapons (while the player cannot), and some enemies are much more intelligent and tactically ept, especially in the case of the new Skirmishers, who are extremely nimble and hard to hit, and will team up to flank the player in an encirclement if they are not careful. Overall, the AI is much smarter. Movement in ''Halo Reach ''is relatively simple, and the same as every other shooter of its time period. The player can move backwards and forwards, left and right. They can look up and down, side to side, or in circles. On the Xbox 360, this is done through the use of the analogue sticks (left stick to move, right to look). Also, like ''Halo 3 ODST, Halo Reach ''has a fall damage system, making it once again possible for the player to die or take damage if they have jumped and landed from a certain height. Health System In ''Halo Reach, the old health system from Halo: Combat Evolved ''returns. Unlike ''Halo 2 ''and ''Halo 3, where the player only had a shield bar and no visible health bar (although health was present), in Halo Reach, just like Halo: Combat Evolved, has a shield bar and numerous health bars. Just like in Halo 3, these can be found at the middle top of the screen, just below the player's compass. The shield bar is located ontop, while the health bars are located underneath it. The player has a total of seventeen health bars, but this is actually an illusion. When the player loses health, the bars collapse 'inwards,' meaning that a bar on the far left and far right will both disappear (for example, when the player takes a hit, the eighth bar on the left, and the eighth bar on the right will disappear. Another hit, the seventh bar on the left, seventh on the right, etc.) While the player still has shields, their health will not take damage. Once their shields have been drained however, the player will begin suffering damage. Much like previous games, once depleted, the shields will beep consistently and loudly, and the bar will flash bright red constantly. When the player loses health, the closer they get to the middle, the bars change color, becoming darker. When the player has extremely low health, the bars will be dark crimson. Once this health bar is depleted, the player dies. Like Halo: Combat Evolved, the game has health packs which, if obtained, can be used to heal the player's health back to maximum. If their shields are down while doing this, shields will be recharged instantly as well. However, unlike Halo: Combat Evolved, where you need only walk over the pack to pick it up, the player must 'equip it,' using the same button used to use vehicles or pick up weapons. Difficulty The four difficulty levels from the previous games return, and are largely unchanged . There are four difficulties in Halo Reach: *Easy : “Laugh as helpless victims flee in terror from their inevitable slaughter. Achievements cannot be unlocked on this difficulty.” *Normal : “Face firm resistance from competent, determined enemies, but burn through enough ammo and you will eventually triumph.” *Heroic : “Fight against formidable foes that will truly test your skill and wits; this is the way Halo is meant to be played.” *Legendary : “Tremble as teeming hordes of invincible alien monsters punish the slightest error with instant death... again and again.” The Covenant Just like Halo 3 ODST, the only enemy is the Covenant, given that the game is based during the Fall of Reach, which was primarily a battle between the UNSC and the Covenant during the Human-Covenant War. However, just like Halo 3 ODST, there is no actual antagonist character, as all the characters in the game are human. Thel 'Vadamee does not count, as he is not mentioned or seen within the game directly, even if he was leading one of the fleets that attacked Reach). Because of this, the Covenant are largely disconnected enemies in gameplay, leaving them, as it can be argued, 'faceless antagonists.' In the game, there are eight species, and all but one of them have been fought or seen before in previous Halo ''games. There are Grunts, Jackals, Elites, Brutes, Hunters, Drones, Engineers and the new species, Skirmishers. Skirmishers are technically a sub-species of the Jackals who have feathers and act as a more hit-and-run attack unit than the Jackal does. Skirmishers are fast and deadly, and in large numbers, can pose the biggest threat to a player, as they are extremely hard to hit with marksman weapons like the sniper rifle and DMR. The Covenant also have a larger array of weapons, vehicles and turrets, and pose a bigger threat than they ever have in a ''Halo ''game before. Allies *'UNSC Army': Unlike in previous games, where the primary allies of the player were marines, the player is instead now aided by armyUNSC Marine Corps Battle Dress Uniform troopers from the UNSC Army. However, despite this, army men and standard marines, in-game, do not act much differently, with similiar AI competency, access to weapons and ability to assist the player. The only extreme difference is that instead of wearing the UNSC Marines Armor, they wear UNSC Army battle gear. Otherwise, they act in the exact same fashion as marines, and even have the 'poor driving' skills marines possessed in previous games. While they can be useful during combat, especially when armed with rocket launchers, they become more and more useless on the higher difficulties. Army troopers appear in all levels except Noble Actual, Nightfall, The Package and Lone Wolf. *'Orbital Drop Shock Troopers': Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, also known as ODSTs, are a type of special forces unit within the Marine Corps that specializes in special operations, black operations, counter-terrorism, counter-contraband, etc. Considered to be the 'hardest of the hard,' ODSTs are nicknamed 'Helljumpers' due to their preferred entry point; HEV pods dropped from orbit. ODSTs, just like in ''Halo 3, have a very limited role in the game. They first appear on the level Exodus, when the player encounters the Bullfrogs unit. They then later appear again in the level The Package, and are then never seen again. They are also briefly seen during one of the randomized side missions on the level New Alexandria. They can be found in a Falcon being piloted (or manned) by Edward Buck. ODSTs act almost exactly like normal army men, with the only difference being their unique armor configuration and how much damage they can withstand. *'Colonial Militia': The UNSC utilizes a system very much like the modern United States National Guard, where a series of 'colonial militias' are set up on every colony world to defend it against aggressors when the main military cannot. In Halo Reach, the player will encounter the Reach Colonial Militia once during the entire game, on the level Nightfall. They act exactly like standard army men except without armor of any kind and have weaker health. However, they can utilize almost any weapon the player gives them, and are especially deadly with sniper rifles and rocket launchers. Weapons Halo Reach ''brings to the table a new range of weapons never seen before in any ''Halo ''game, as well as old weapons from the previous games that fans recognize. The ability to dual-wield has been removed for players, although enemy Elites, especially Ultras, are capable of doing so. However, the player can still tear off turrets and use them, although their ammo will go from being unlimited to a minimum of 200 rounds. A new system introduced to turrets as well is the 'overheat' system. If a turret is fired on automatic for too long a period, the turret will eventually overheat, making the turret unusable until the weapon has cooled down. This new system was added to add balance to gameplay, as well as adding a more realistic touch to the game. A brand new feature to the game as well is the ability to use your combat knife to assassinate enemy players. In previous games, you could melee a player in the back, and it would kill them instantly. This was called an 'assassination.' However, in ''Halo Reach, this is revolutionized in the form of 'animated assassinations,' when a player holds down the melee button behind an enemy, they will enter an animation (viewed in third-person) where they will pull out their combat knife and perform a takedown attack that kills the enemy player instantly. There are many different animations, and all of them will occur depending on how you approach them (from the side, sprinting, from above, from below, etc.). UNSC : Usable *M6G Personal Defense Weapon System *MA37 Individual Combat Weapon System *M392 Designated Marksman Rifle *M45 Tactical Shotgun *Sniper Rifle System 99 Anti-Materiel *M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Medium Anti-Vehicle/Assault Weapon *M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle *M247H Heavy Machine Gun (Detachable) *Combat Knife (Used by assassination animation only) *H-165 Forward Observer Module (Campaign and Firefight only) *Landmine (Can be placed in Forge) (Multiplayer only) *M319 Individual Grenade Launcher *M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Fragmentation Grenade *ST/Medusa (Campaign only) *M1024 ASW/AC 30mm ALA Cannon (Campaign only) *M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun *M68 Asynchronous Linear-Induction Motor *M512 Smooth Bore High Velocity Cannon *M247T Medium Machine Gun Turret *M71 Anti-Aircraft Gun (can be activated, but not directly used) (Campaign only) *M79 Multiple Launch Rocket System *M8 Automated Defense System (can be activated, but not directly used) (Campaign only) *Mark 2488 1.1GJ MAC (Campaign only) *MG460 Automatic Grenade Launcher (Campaign only) *M638 Autocannon (Campaign only) : Unusable *M370 Autocannon *ANVIL-II Air-to-Surface Missile Covenant : Usable *Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol *Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle *Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher *Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword *Type-26 Anti-Infantry Stationary Gun *Type-26 Anti-Vehicle Stationary Gun (Campaign only) *Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon *Type-52 Directed Energy Support Weapon (Detachable) *Type-52 Special Applications Rifle *Type-50 Directed Energy Rifle/Heavy *Type-51 Directed Energy Rifle/Improved *Type-52 Guided Munitions Launcher/Explosive *Type-31 Rifle *Type-25 Carbine *Type-2 Energy Weapon/Hammer *Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenade *Variant Class-2 Energy Weapon System *Class-2 Projectile Cannon *Heavy Plasma Mortar *Light Plasma Cannon *Class-2 Plasma Mortar : Unusable *Heavy Plasma Autocannon *Medium Focus Cannon *Heavy Plasma Cannon *Type-26 Anti-Aircraft Stationary Gun Vehicles Halo Reach, just like its weapons, brings a new range of vehicles into the game, as well as bringing back many old ones. Many of the popular vehicles have returned, while new ones have been added to the game. Turrets have been changed on human vehicles (and normal turrets) so that they can now overheat when fired constantly, adding balance to gameplay. A similar change is made to the boost features on Ghosts, Banshees and Wraiths, so that they can only be used constantly for a certain period of time before needing to recharge. During this time, the vehicle cannot use the boosting feature of the vehicle. Vehicles retain their destructibility from the previous games, as has been a tradition ever since Halo 2. Also, some of the new vehicles are featured in both campaign and multiplayer, while others are campaign only. The Phantom is also once again destructible, but the returning Spirit dropship is indestructible like Halo: Combat Evolved. The Scarab returns in the game but rarely appears directly during gameplay, only appearing directly in The Pillar of Autumn, but is never fought, meaning that they are indestructible when encountered, and can only be destroyed by the AI in cutscenes or in background battles. UNSC : Drivable *M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle *M12G1 Light Anti-Armor Vehicle *M12R Light Anti-Aircraft Vehicle *M831 Troop Transport *M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle *M808 Main Battle Tank *UH-144 Falcon *YSS-1000 Prototype Anti-Ship Spaceplane (Campaign only/Long Night of Solace) *Cart (Campaign only) *HuCiv 1500 (Campaign only) :*Tractor Unit (Campaign only) *S-2 Traxus Cargo Transporter (Campaign only) *Spade (Campaign only) : Undrivable *D77-TC Pelican *GA-TL1 Longsword-Class Interceptor Covenant : Drivable *Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle *Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft *Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage *Type-48 Light Assault Gun Carriage : Undrivable *Type-25 Troop Carrier *Type-52 Troop Carrier *Type-52 Troop Carrier/Assault *Type-27 Exoatmospheric Multi-Role Fighter *Type-31 Exoatmospheric Multi-Role Fighter *Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platform Powerups Powerups can only be found in multiplayer. There are a total of three powerups in the game, and each one enhances gameplay aspects, giving the player advanced abilities. These are: *'Active Camouflage': Drastically reduces the player's visibility and makes them invisible; this can be found in campaign and multiplayer. This effect lasts for a total of 45 seconds. This effect is made null and void when the player is carrying: a skull, flag, hit by weapons fire, fires their weapon, fires their weapon or when time runs out. *'Overshield': Adds an additional two layers (three on enemies) of shielding. When it is active, your shield bar turns from blue to gold, and your normal shields do not take damage. Unlike Active Camo, it does not deplete over time, and only depletes once both layers have been removed by damage. However during multiplayer, it depletes over time. During this time, you can take direct hits from explosive ordinance. The player is essentially invincible to all kinds of damage, and the overshield can only be overridden by a plasma pistol overcharge bolt, or by assassination. *'Custom Powerup': This powerup can be placed in Forge. The powerup is 'custom' because it can be modified to give the player whatever trait they give to it. This can be an increase/decrease in speed, increase/decrease health, etc. Armor Abilities Equipment from Halo 3 ''is no longer present, and is instead replaced by the new Armor Abilities. Whereas in ''Halo 3, Equipment was picked up and could only be used once, the player will either be assigned an armor ability (through a pre-set loadout in the opening of the match) or by picking it up. Once acquired, the player will have that armor ability for an indefinite period, unless they die or replace it with another. Each armor ability has its own set of abilities. With Equipment, the player used them offensively (with the exceptions of Regeneration, Bubble Shield and a few others), either to blind the enemy, stun them or cripple their fighting capability. Armor Abilities are used far more defensively and personally, acting like powerups to fuel the player or make them stronger in a certain aspect. Armor Abilities can be found and used in both campaign and multiplayer. Depending on the one chosen, the player will gain certain advantages or a kind of tactical superiority. When a player has no ability equipped, when they walk over one, they will automatically pick it up, and its icon will appear just above the motion tracker on the bottom left of the HUD. If not, and the player has one and wishes to switch, the player must press the 'action' button (enter vehicle, activate console, pick up weapon, etc.) to swap. When an ability is used, it will act like the boost feature on Covenant vehicles, and once used up, will need time to recharge. The amount of time it can be used depends on the ability and its effectiveness, with the more effective ones needing a recharge much more often, to balance gameplay. *Active Camouflage *Armor Lock *Drop Shield *Evade *Hologram *Jet Pack (When the Covenant use the ability, they are using the Covenant equivalent of the same ability) *Sprint Custom Games Returning from Halo 3 ''is Custom Games. The same as the ''Halo 3 ''Custom Games, it is a a seperate lobby meant to host private games between friends or other people in the gaming community. When a player is done editing a map in Forge, they can open up the map in Custom Games, and play on it using whatever gametypes are available in the game. However, using the Custom Games options, the player can also create their own subtype of that gametype, effectively allowing the player to build their own gametypes and try them on maps they have edited, or pre-designed maps provided by Bungie. This option allows the fanbase the ability to manipulate ''Halo ''and play it how they want to play it. Through this, you can decide if you want vehicles/weapons to be present, or equipment to vanish, or what gametype you will play on that map. And when finished, you can invite your friends to play it with you, with a total of twelve being allowed during in-game play. In ''Halo Reach, Custom Games now allows for far more user manipulation of the gametypes, and has a larger range of options available to them. This return made Halo Reach's Custom Games the most popular of the two, and made it one of the most popular games in the series because of this. Using the File Share system, which was also present in Halo 3, the player can then upload their created/modified gametypes online, allowing other Halo ''players from across the world to download, view and play their custom gametypes. Forge Also returning from ''Halo 3 ''is Forge. Forge, in the simple sense, is a 'object manipulation service' that allows the player to load up a map of their choosing, and manipulate the fundamental traits of it. However, it can only be used with multiplayer maps, and cannot be used to manipulate the campaign mode. Forge was an idea inspired by ''Halo: Custom Edition and the Halo 2 Vista Editing Kit, which all eventually led to the creation of Forge. However, it is severely limited, and does not allow the kind of freedom found in those two editors. However, players can edit the basic traits of a map. This means that you cannot edit parts of the map that are programmed as solid parts of it (eg. You cannot remove the beach on Last Resort because it is coding that Bungie has deliberately hard-locked to prevent corruption of the map in the event that the Forge editor could cause that). However, you can delete or manipulate things such as turrets, weapons, vehicles, crates, containers, and more. The player can also add these things if they are not already present, or add more of them, while also being able to add things such as spawn points for when the game is loaded in Custom Games, weapons, teleporters, etc. You can also manipulate the properties of that object, such as rotation, angle, etc. On some maps, there is even the option to add walls and structural pieces, allowing you to create buildings. When you load up Forge mode, you will start out as your normal, chosen character. To be able to edit the map, you must enter 'Editor Mode.' To do this, simply press up on the D pad. When this occurs, your player will reappear in the same place as a Forerunner Monitor, much like that of 343 Guilty Spark. In this mode, and only in this mode, will you be able to add things, delete them, manipulate the map and all the other things the editor allows. While in this mode,you can fly, allowing you to reach normally unreachable areas, and making editing easier. However, the map does have a budget system, so as to stop the player adding too many objects and possibly overloading the map. To stop this, the budget plays a cost on each item placed, and that cost is deducted from the established budget of the map. Once the budget is depleted, the player can no longer place any objects. Deleting an object will replenish the budget with the amount that object cost. Some objects are free, such as spawn points, as they are too inconsequential in the game's code to have a possibility of overloading the map. In Halo Reach, Forge is almost entirely renovated and refurbished, as well as massively improved compared to its Halo 3 counterpart. Unofficially named 'Forge 2.0', Reach's ''Forge features brand new objects, larger maps, an improved budget system, a perfected physics system, more variability in what you can do, and introduces the man favourite map 'Forge World' as a 'Forge only' map. Many of the forge items found in Forge World are Forerunner themed (walls, doorways, arches, buildings, etc. all use Forerunner architecture). This is not the same for every map, however, considering Forge World is the only map to feature infrastructure-material, this is not needed to be said. Forge World contains the massive majority of the objects available in Forge, as many other items are exclusive to certain maps, and constructed for it. However, in terms of vehicles and weapons, Forge World has all of them (aside from unusable ones and ones exclusive to the campaign). The budget is also massively increased (unlike Sandbox's $1500 in ''Halo 3, the budget for Forge World is now $10000). However, many objects now have a limit on them; for example, unlike in Halo 3, where you could place as many of one object as you wanted until the budget depleted, depending on the map, you can only buy a certain number (eg. Only four Scorpions can be spawned on Forge World, regardless of the budget). For more information, see the official page on Forge. Firefight Returning from Halo 3 ODST is the Firefight mode, but has been expanded upon greatly and improved. Essentially, the player will choose a map, and defend themselves against numerous waves of Covenant forces, each increasing in verocity, strength and difficulty. Just like campaign, the player can choose a difficulty setting (Easy, Normal, Heroic, Legendary) and once on the map, it is up to the player to survive all rounds to win the match. The player can only die a set number of times (unless the settings are modified) before they die permanently and the game declares you defeated. After every wave, the Covenant will become stronger either by bringing in new species, weapons or vehicles. The player, depending on the map, can also use their own vehicles when dropped in, and will be awarded such things, as well as ordnance and fresh weapons, when the round is over. They will be provided with fresh ammo, weapons and possibly vehicles; again, it depends on the map, and whether or not it supports vehicles. This is only the basic fundamentals of Firefight brought back from the previous game. A new addition includes the addition of 'Firefight gametypes.' This allows the player to manipulate a 'gametype' within Firefight, which includes: what comes in what waves, whether vehicles will be deployed, on the enemy side or yours, and what weapons they will use. New types of enemies are introduced, such as Skirmishers and Elites with human weapons, as well as Elites in general. Unlike Halo 3 ODST as well, Firefight is now supported in matchmaking, and has its own playlist. Players can now choose with Firefight map, and what Firefight gametype, and then work cooperatively with other players to defeat the onslaught of Covenant forces. Skulls, campaign scoring and achievements are still present in Firefight, as well. Also changed from Halo 3 ODST is choosing a character in the game to play as. In Halo 3 ODST, the player unlocked characters from the game to play as, such as Dare or Mickey, and then played as them. Instead, the player just plays as their multiplayer character, and instead chooses a character's voice, which is not necessarily present in the game. These voices, just like the characters, must be unlocked through the game. These Firefight voices are: *SPARTAN-B312 (Unlocked by default) *Carter-A259 (Can be purchased for 100,000 credits) *Catherine-B320 (Can be purchased for 10,000 credits) *Jun-A266 (Can be purchased for 10,000 credits) *Emile-A239 (Can be purchased for 10,000 credits) *Jorge-052 (Can be purchased for 10,000 credits) *John-117 (Can be purchased for 150,000 credits) *Cortana (Can be purchased for 100,000 credits) *Avery Johnson (Can be purchased for 100,000 credits) *Edward Buck (Can be purchased for 15,000 credits) *Marcus Stacker (Can be purchased for 5,000 credits) *Auntie Dot (Can be purchased for 15,000 credits) Theater The last mode to return from Halo 3 ''and ''Halo 3 ODST ''is Theater. This allows the player to play a game of campaign, multiplayer, custom games, Firefight or Forge, and then play back the footage of them playing it in Theater. You can then choose whether or not to record the footage and save it in your archive, or to discard it. You can also detach from the main player, using the camera to pan across and explore the map, and they can even use a Pan Cam mode that allows them to exit the map boundaries, and see things the player is not supposed to see normally. This allows them to see easter eggs only possible to see in Theater. This is helpful when recording machinimas. Nothing has changed in the Theater mode aside from a few added abilities, such as the Skip/Previous ability. Environment The events of ''Halo Reach ''all take place on or in orbit of Reach, the planet of the game's namesake. As a result, all of the environments are based on the planet or in orbit of it, but take on multiple different pieces of scenery, whether it be within an ONI facility, a foundering metropolitan cityscape or a canyon in the midst of a large-scale battle. ''Halo Reach ''is also the first game in the series where space by itself is an environment in which the player can interact inside of during gameplay. The first level, ''Noble Actual, is based in a mountainous area within the continent of Eposz, where the entirety of Reach ''takes place. It takes place in the midst of a UNSC facility of somekind, likely a command post. The following level, ''Winter Contingency, takes place in the Highland Mountains region, in the town of Visegrad. Its a grassy area with tall mountains all around, with clouds and large drops. As described, there are signs of civilian agriculture, with crops, small civilian infrastructure and the odd UNSC facility to be found. At the end of the level is a UNSC communications outpost, which is of UNSC architecture. ONI: Sword Base ''is based in the Babd Catha Ice Shelf, located near an undesignated area of the coast of Eposz. As the name would suggest, there are large settlements of ice and snow, with the odd clearing of fine dirt roads and rocky dispositions. Dominating the map are two UNSC bases, named Farragut and Airview respectively, which feature basic huts and equipment. The main feature is Sword Base itself; a massive ONI facility that uses ONI architecture. Being under attack, it is heavily damaged, and players will find fires burning everywhere, debris and broken walls. ''Nightfall is based in the Szurdok Ridge, within the Viery Territory. In Hungarian, "Szurdok" means "canyon," which is almost exactly where this level is based. Based on a ridge overlooking Viery, the area is littered with Covenant tech, and even a hydroelectric plant, where Colonial Militia are located. The level is also based at night, meaning it is completely dark. There are the odd civilian building, and trees and rock formations are littered throughout the area. In the next level, Tip of the Spear, the level takes place in Viery, seen in the last level. This area is mostly a massive, long canyon littered with rocks, grass and trees, as well as UNSC facilities, civilian infrastructure and even a Covenant Spire at the end. Overall, it is much like Nightfall, but at day and during a UNSC assault. ''Long Night of Solace ''is possibly the level with the most variety in terms of environment. Multiplayer